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Wednesday, May 23, 2012

[CSA 2012] Week 1 - Goodbye Asparagus, Hello Strawberries

I tweeted a while back that I finally joined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). It's been something I've been wanting to do, but we didn't have too many options in this area, until the last two years.

My food and personal projects are all colliding together this year, and it's been a personal focus on mine. I've started "Project 30" as a personal homage all my dearest friends & family from all my chapters in my life. I am embarking on cooking through all these recipes, and I have some already done under my belt. I will showcase these good eats on the blog with a short interview from the person who gave me the recipe.

There are also plenty of books like Michael Pollan "In Defense of Food," where his mantra is quite simple: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." Or take Jaimie Oliver's "Food Revolution" - trying to get America to eat healthy. Obesity and diabetes have been skyrocketing in statistics. I remember watching one episode where Jamie Oliver went into the older elementary grade classrooms with a basket of veggies and fruits and asked the kids what they were. These kids were stumped by eggplant. Some got tomatoes and potatoes all mixed up and were astonished what real veggies and fruit looks like. Well, this poor man is on a mission to get us all to understand what healthy eating is all about. It's not by chance that he won the TED 2010 award.

And lastly, I've always been struggling with my weight. It yo-yo's up and down and it's time to really tackle it. I truly believe the key is eating real foods, portion control, more exercise. It's really not rocket science, but one of discipline. So I hope to put more recipes up here to inspire everyone to be able to do so.

Well, really what I was trying to do is to show you my proud moment picking up my first CSA basket at Stults Farm. We signed up for a half-share since we're only two people at home.

This farm is located very close to my work place, so it makes my pickups pretty easy. I plan on blogging what we do with our basket of ingredients. I've been picking up fresh-picked asparagus almost twice a week from this farm since mid-April, long before the CSA season started. So we have had our fair share of asparagus this year, but it is so delicious! It doesn't compare to store-bought asparagus. These green ones are so tender, you could shave it up into a salad and eat them raw. We personally love to sauté them up with a little bit of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt. No more that 3-5min max. A great way to get your veggie serving(s) in. I can't get Florian to stop eating these once they hit the plate (fresh from the pan) and if I don't watch out, he will gobble up my portion too...but hey, anything to get him to eat his fruits & veggies :)

But it's the end of asparagus season and it's time to say goodbye to these little crunchy green spears of goodness. Instead we're welcoming the strawberry season in, and from the way these tasted, they are delicious, juicy, and sweet.

Don't you want to go strawberry picking now? ;) I know I'm going back this weekend to pick myself a new batch, because we already finished our little pint. I guess I will have to make a retro-active picture of how we had them...Hint: yesterday was National Strawberry & Cream Day!

3 comments:

So now I know what CSA stands for. I am trying to make food from scratch most of times, sometimes I succeed, sometimes I fail, but my repertoire of recipes Is slowly increasing. Your share looks delicious, do you also have to bring something?I am embarrassed to admit I don't know what's in season, with global commerce and hothouse the supermarkets have a year round supply of everything.prob strawberries too?It's a reminder for me to go more often to the fresh food Market.

Hi, RenYi, what a wonderful experience to share some fruits and veggies. Here in Florida we have cantaloupes and watermelons, and avocados are starting to get to the grocery stores. In Puerto Rico, avocado season has also started and it continues almost to november. That if a hurricane doesn't come thru...then it ends sooner...hugs, Frances.